page_title: Karmichael Hunt
section_title: 2008
hierarchical_section_title: Karmichael Hunt / Rugby League career / Brisbane Broncos (2004–2009) / 2008
caption_attribution_description: Karmichael Hunt of the Brisbane Bronco's RLFC
context_page_description: Karmichael Neil Matthew Hunt, nicknamed K, is a New Zealand-born Australian rugby union footballer who plays for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super Rugby competition. He previously played for the Queensland Reds. Having also played professional rugby league and Australian rules football, Hunt was the second person in Australia to reach an elite professional level in three different football codes. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but has represented Australia in both rugby codes after his family emigrated there when he was aged 11.
  Hunt made his debut for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League in 2004 and won the Dally M Rookie of the Year award. Primarily a fullback, he played for Brisbane until 2009 and was part of the Broncos team which won the Grand Final in 2006. In a controversial move, Hunt chose to play for Australia instead of his native New Zealand, citing a lifelong dream of playing for Queensland in the State of Origin series. Hunt's performance in the 2006 NRL season resulted in his selection for Queensland and Australia in 2006.
context_section_description: Over the 2008 pre-season Hunt recovered from his hamstring injury and played in his first match since being injured in a 23 February 2008 trial match against Canberra. After playing another trial in the position of five eighth, Hunt returned to first grade in Round 1 of the 2008 NRL competition playing fullback in the Broncos 48–12 win over Penrith. In
  Round 2 Hunt shoulder charged Sydney Roosters five eighth Braith Anasta in the head and was subsequently placed on report. The NRL judiciary committee charged Hunt with a Grade-Three Careless High tackle and if pleading guilty would miss one week of premiership competition. Pleading not guilty to the charge, Hunt was cleared to play by the judiciary with no penalty being given but missed one week anyway due to a knee injury.
  In July 2008, speculation began on what Hunt would do past the expiration of his contract at the end of the 2009 season. With some high-profile defections of star league players to cashed-up rugby union clubs from France, Hunt is expected to be the target of offers from overseas and within Australia. Australian rugby union club Queensland Reds stated their intentions to attempt to lure Hunt to the rugby union code, with the reasoning being his successful young career in rugby union. From within the NRL competition, Sydney based clubs Sydney Roosters and St. George Illawarra Dragons stated their intentions to make a bid for Hunt for his services in the 2010 season, claiming they could double Hunt's three-year deal from 2006, reported to be around $200,000. The Broncos however, were still expected to be a factor in his decision with the possibility of the captaincy a possible lure to remain with the Broncos.
  In the final round of the 2008 NRL competition, Hunt became the youngest player in premiership's history to reach 100 first-grade games. He set up three tries and scored one himself in the man-of-the-match performance against the Newcastle Knights in the game which secured the Broncos place in the competition finals. This performance came a day after his coach Wayne Bennett stated that Hunt was the "bravest" player he had coached because of the strong runs he made when returning the ball from fullback.
  On 15 September 2008, a 24-year-old woman lodged a formal complaint about a sexual assault that allegedly occurred two days earlier. The people alleged to be at the centre of the incident were Hunt and Brisbane Broncos teammates Darius Boyd and Sam Thaiday. The players cooperated with police and the three were cleared of the allegations in November by police. Hunt later said he was ashamed and felt he let down his family, fans and the Broncos. However, in May 2009, the woman stated she had a few drinks with Hunt, went into a toilet cubicle, and "after a few kisses, things went drastically wrong" and that in a "blink of an eye" Boyd and Thaiday were also in the cubicle.
caption: Hunt in 2009
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S8000fd", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix S8000fd Ver1.01", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:28 15:50:12", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "294", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8780", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:06:28 15:50:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:06:28 15:50:12", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "93/10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "43/10", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "421/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "978", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5714", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "5714", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}